Rhode Island Department of Education
Lesson Plan

Lesson Title:

State Standards: GLEs/GSEs

RI-GSE-ESS1–3 Explain how internal and external sources of heat (energy) fuel geologic processes (e.g., rock cycle, plate tectonics, sea floor spreading); 3b explaining how convection circulations of the mantle initiate the movement of the crustal plates which then cause plate movement and seismic activity
RI-GSE ESS 1:
The Earth and earth materials as we know them today have developed over long periods of time, through continual change processes.

National Standards:

NS 9-12.4 Earth and Space Science
The evolution of the Earth system
Content Standard F: Science in Personal and Social Perspectives
Science and Technology in local, national, and global challenges

Context of Lesson:

This lesson will consist of students working in lab groups on the "locating the Epicenter" activity. This activity will apply the knowledge about S and P-waves and earthquakes, and will allow the students to investigate seismic activity.

Opportunities to Learn:

Depth of Knowledge

Level 3
  • Students will be applying their knowledge of earthquakes and graphing the seismic waves
Level 1
  • students will recall the information of the S-waves and P-waves demonstration

Prerequisite Knowledge

Students are expected to have read the activity for homework, and should come in knowing how to do the activity or have questions prepared.
Students will have a knowledge of P-waves and S-waves discussed in the last class.

Plans for Differentiating Instruction

Students will be allowed to work in partners or alone. I believe this will allow for some differentiation in terms of how students work and focus best. Also there will be an opportunity for a couple students to come up in front of the class and give a demonstration.

Accommodations and modifications

Environmental factors

Students will be working at the lab benches in the back of the classroom. This will allow students to work in partners, and get up out of their chairs.

Materials

  • slinky
  • locating the epicenter activity worksheets


Objectives:

Students will:
  • complete the activity on locating the epicenter of an earthquake
  • accurately demonstrate the 2 types of waves using the slinky

Instruction:

http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/roleplaying/examples/seismic.html

Opening:

The class will be instructed to take out their papers on the 'locating the epicenter' activity. Once they do this, I will ask for a volunteer to re-enact the demonstration I had given on P-waves and S-waves using a slinky. This will allow 2 students to get up in front of the class and physically demonstrate the waves just as I had done the class before.

Engagement:

As a class, we will then address any question students had brought in about the assigned reading of the activity. Next, students will continue to work on the activity. Depending on how many question the students have about the assignment, I may demonstrate the first step as the students follow along.

Where are your notes from doing the activity? You should create these and plan on modeling most/all of the procedure before letting students work independently. You should have transparencies made so you can model interpreting the seismic charts. During this discussion, you can connect seismic data charts with your slinky demo.

Activity on Locating Epicenter
The activity asks the students to use the given information about a recorded earthquake to determine the epicenter. There is a table for the students to fill in the information gathered from the records.

Closure:

The students should finish the activity. I will then collect the activity from each student. I will ask students what are some requirements for locating the epicenter of an earthquake, and we will discuss.

Assessment:


You should assess more than just the procedure. Shouldn't you check to see if they know the difference between S and P waves? How waves travel through the earth? etc.

Reflections

(only done after lesson is enacted)

Student Work Sample 1 – Approaching Proficiency:

Student Work Sample 2 – Proficient:

Student Work Sample 3 – Exceeds Proficiency: